In 1983 or earlier did Colt make an AR-15 A1, rather than just the SP1?  By this I mean one with a foreward assist.  What other assault weapons were avalible in the early 1980s for civilian purchase (non full auto)?  I'm asking because in the early 80s my dad bought four mini-14s instead of ARs because they were all forward assistless.  Does anyone know?  Thanks.

Oh boy, I think your pop made a terrible mistake, those forward-assistless ARs are collector items worth some serious bucks.  I think Colt only made a very short time.  I'm not an AR15 afficiando, can anybody add anything else?  Those forwards asissts to me were a pain on, the range, if you had to use it, it cause my rifle to jam, and it would take some doing to get it working again. I would just eject the problem round, and put in a new fresh round.

Well lessee if I can remember back that far.

In the early '80s you could get an SP1 AR15 with no forward assist.  No Colt civilian rifle came with a forward assist until the AR15A2 in about 1985 or so.

You could get a Mini 14.

You could get a Maadi AK.

A FAL was from Belgium and cost about $1K which was a lot of money then.

HK91 and HK93.

Galil, again about $1K.

Valmet in 5.56 and 7.62x39, but commie ammo was hard to come by.

Sterling AR180s at least for awhile.

Stupid rifles like the Bushmaster assault rifle and the Australian Leader.

I think that's about it . . .  The Steyr AUG appeared sometime around 1986 or so and cost about $800 which at the time was WAY too much unless you were rich.

Did anyone else besides Colt make AR-15s in the early 1980s?  When did bushmaster, oly arms, and eagle arms start making AR-15s?  I really do wish my dad would have gotton us all (my mom, sister, dad, and I) SP1s, but of the mini 14s he got us, two are stainless and two have been parkerized.  He also got us each metal folding stocks, flash supressors, 10 factory Ruger 30 round mags, and one 20 rounder.  They have never jammed but I still think it would be bad ass to go home now and see 4 SP1s in like new condition along with my Eagle Arms Carbine he got me in 1991 and my new Bushmaster 20" HBAR.  Oh well, what do you guys think did he make a huge mistake?

BTT, did anyone else make ARs in the early 1980s?

I don't think anyone made ARs back then because Colt still had the patent.  Bushmaster had its own rifle which was AR-related but wasn't the real deal and didn't go over too well.

Those 30-round Mini mags are worth at least $100 a pop if you wanted to get out of Minis and into ARs.